


under the blazing sun

by sweetelegy



Category: TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff, Kai was journalism club member, M/M, Puppy Love, Taehyun was in school soccer team
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:55:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27262351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetelegy/pseuds/sweetelegy
Summary: Kai tried to spell the nameKang Taehyunmultiple times to remember it, so he wouldn’t bother erasing the wrong name in his diary when he decided to write about him again. And yes, Kai couldn’t deny that he wrote about his school’s soccer player with zero-five number on the back of his shirt more than twice already.
Relationships: Huening Kai/Kang Taehyun
Comments: 8
Kudos: 91





	under the blazing sun

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time of writing fully tyunning so I hope I did justice to their dynamic? I dont know, it’s short because I’m still trying to figure out how to write about them. I feel so warm everytime they’re together or they mention each other so I thought about writing for them. All and all, I hope you all like it ❤️

Beomgyu nudged Kai’s elbow slowly for the umpteenth time. His head kept turning to the right, towards the school gate which was starting to look deserted as students already left. “Let’s go home, Kai.” He groaned. 

He knew, surely Kai’s response was not what he expected. Beomgyu had repeatedly asked the younger the same thing, but the answer was always the same. “Wait, Hyung,” said Kai without even sparing a glance at Beomgyu who wanted to leave the school ground immediately. He just ought to end the day and go to sleep that he very much deserved already.

The direction of his eyes was focused on the soccer game in progress at the field upfront. It was getting late and the sun was almost setting in the western horizon, but the game was far from over, at least until there would be a team that won the match. It seemed so. It would take a long time to wait for the game to come to the last round.

But Beomgyu couldn’t go home and leave his cousin alone in the soccer field or his mom would scold him later for being _an irresponsible older brother._ He grunted because the golden sun ray streamed in between the tree branches almost irritated him now, though he was more confused as since when Kai was interested in soccer like this anyway?

Kai tugged at Beomgyu’s uniform sleeve quickly, dispersing his inner thoughts. “Hyung, do you know the boy with the back number zero-five on the other end?” He pointed to a boy who was now running while dribbling the ball towards the opponent’s goal. 

Beomgyu squinted his eyes, paying attention to the person in question. After a while, he nodded in affirmation. “Yes. The genius from acceleration class, my friends keep saying he’s cute — in my humble opinion, he’s just ordinary,” He shrugged, receiving an incredulous look from Kai, then he continued, “But somehow he’s so popular, especially with girls.” 

“Don't you know him? He’s supposedly in the same year with you but I guess his brain is so advanced.” Beomgyu shuddered at the thought of cramming three years of highschool into only two years instead.

Kai shook his head, having no idea what Beomgyu was talking about. “What’s his name?”

“Taehyun. Kwon Taehyun?” said Beomgyu, a little bit unsure, because it didn’t really matter. What mattered was _strange,_ this kid sitting beside him was acting strange, he thought silently. “Why?” 

Kai straightened his back. “He’s, uh, good.” For the first time since the game began roughly forty minutes and twenty six seconds ago — yes, Beomgyu in fact counted every second — the younger finally looked at him straight in the eyes and beamed. 

After that, he returned to focus on the game right away, leaving Beomgyu with so many unanswered questions in his head. He was left speechless looking at Kai from the side. Then he looked at Taehyun from a distance, and looked back at Kai — who was now clapping cheerfully at his side — feeling happy because Taehyun managed to kick the ball into the opponent’s goal. _However,_ an unusual amount of delight. Beomgyu knew _that._ The wind that blew over their hair knew that.

Yesterday, Kai felt bad about Beomgyu because he had to come home late to wait for him to watch the match. As his gratitude, he wanted to treat his older cousin for his services. He decided to run over to the school cafeteria right after the bell rang to snatch the plum juice, his favorite, that was also so on demand that if he didn’t arrive fast enough, he wouldn’t make it. He bought two bottles. Maybe a little bit of this drink and much _effort_ could create a happy effect on Beomgyu. Hopefully.

As he was about to head to the cafeteria on the first floor, Kai stopped at a large board wall that was displayed in front of the audiovisual room right before the staircase. He stared in amazement at the large poster that covered a quarter of the walls. The poster contained a portrait of a boy he knew.

The boy's bangs almost covered his eyes. But Kai could still see the joy in those big round twinkling eyes. The effect of winning the match as well as winning the best player title it bore. His usually fluffy hair that covered down to his ears looked damp because of the trickling sweat as the photo was taken during the scorching daylight, right after the game between highschools in the prefecture. Kai knew it very well, because he _was_ the photographer after all. 

Such a pretty coincidence, how Choi Soobin the President of Journalism Club had assigned him to photograph the soccer match for the school’s monthly magazine sport article within the last minute, because apparently the older couldn’t do it himself since he got detention. Long story, he still laughed when he remembered the reason behind it from the older the next day, and Kai might sound evil, but he was glad that Soobin got that punishment. Kai thought about thanking him some other time. 

Beneath the portrait of the photo was engraved large writing that could be seen even from a distance of five meters away: OUR BEST CHAMPION IN THE FIELD, KANG TAEHYUN. 

_Kang?_ Kai tried to reread the name several times to make sure, then chuckled. Beomgyu mentioned it wrong apparently. Yesterday, he said _Kwon_ Taehyun. Thank god he had not embarrassed himself by saying that name out loud somewhere. Never had the opportunity to anyway.

He tried to spell the name _Kang Taehyun_ with his tongue multiple times to remember it in the back of his mind, so he wouldn’t need to bother erasing Taehyun’s wrong surname in his diary when he decided to write about him again. And yes, he couldn’t deny that he wrote about his school’s soccer player with zero-five number on the back of his shirt more than twice already.

Kai looked back at the portrait of Taehyun’s face on the poster, guessing what the boy probably liked. Soccer was for sure. A book maniac maybe, because Taehyun was a genius, Beomgyu said it yesterday. And probably everybody knew that too. It was not just him. Inwardly, Kai was a little disappointed at this fact. Taehyun was popular. 

“Your photos are pretty good.”

Kai turned his back to face the source of the sudden voice coming from behind him. His heart seemed to stop for a few seconds when he found out who the owner of the voice was. It needed the right reaction to face the person who was now in front of him, and definitely not with widened eyes and staggered breath as he did now. This was embarrassing.

The person just smiled at Kai’s unusual reaction. “The right lighting makes a good photo. Right, Kai?”

Kai wanted to run away right now to cover up his so apparent excitement. Because he couldn’t help it. A _Kang Taehyun_ just said his name directly in front of him. Taehyun _knew_ his name!

They were sitting apart while discussing the unexpected. The thing was, Kai was not a quiet kid in the first place. He loved to talk about everything, yes, but he never grumbled. Even Beomgyu almost choked on his plum juice he just received from the younger when he heard Kai’s statement just now. “What are you talking about, Kai, just now? I didn't hear?”

Unsuspectingly, Kai repeated his words. “The field is too far away to be seen from this distance,” he said without taking his eyes off the cafeteria window.

His hands were busy stirring the grape juice which had almost run out. Beomgyu scratched his head which was not itchy at all. He approached Kai who was sitting beside the window, observing just like what the younger was doing now. The field was too far away, _what's wrong with it, right?_ And it was better that way. So it wouldn’t be noisy when lessons were in progress, unless…

Beomgyu stopped thinking when he found Taehyun dribbling the ball on their school field. His gaze turned to Kai, who was smiling to himself, then back to Taehyun who was sitting on the grass now, laughing out loud because he had just fallen to the ground after some other boy tackled him. 

Now Beomgyu understood why Kai had recently been taking his time to watch soccer matches after school. Beomgyu understood why Kai asked him Taehyun’s name yesterday. Beomgyu understood why Kai liked to sit on the table by the window directly facing the school green field at the cafeteria. And Beomgyu understood why Kai protested that the school field was too far away for him. Because of one thing. One absolute thing that everyone would experience at least once in their life. And Beomgyu thought, Kai was feeling it. 

Beomgyu smiled a little knowing this. _You stupid!_ Falling in love to this extent. His attitude was too obvious. Even a three years old could figure it out. Beomgyu flicked Kai’s forehead which he then protested by tickling Beomgyu’s waist. 

“Taehyun, huh?” said Beomgyu, teasing Kai in between their laughter.

Kai just smiled in response. Whether it was a question or a statement, he didn’t know. What he knew for sure was that now he was happy, because Beomgyu knew his feelings without needing to express them. Because it felt so embarrassing to say it out loud, and terrifying.

They stopped laughing. Beomgyu’s gaze turned firm, staring right into the younger’s eyes. “Now what you need to know next is how his response to your feelings,” said Beomgyu seriously.

Kai was stunned for a moment, trying to digest his cousin’s words just now. He got a point. But how could he explain his feelings? Kai was too scared, he knew at least Taehyun was a nice person, but he didn’t know if in the end he would accept him, or the least understood him. He couldn't bear to receive any bitter statements from Taehyun. He wasn’t ready.

The weekend was lively and marked with the closing ceremony of the school's thirty-fourth anniversary with so many events to showcase students’ talents. One of them was photography, the main event that was just being held on this year’s anniversary. 

Kai had submitted several photographs he took, however he still didn’t know if they would display them or not. The photography booth would end today and close at night, but Kai didn’t have time to visit the booth yet with the amount of workload he had after neglecting his homeworks for the whole week, because he decided that coming home late to watch soccer matches everyday after school was more entertaining. He calculated it wrong. It wasn’t entertaining anymore now that he could miss his favorite event of the year.

“Kai, why aren’t you here already?” Beomgyu called him through the phone. Kai could hear the live music and people screaming murmured in the background noise. He was jealous. He felt unfair. But it was fully on him.

Kai groaned loudly. “I forgot to do my homeworks for the whole week. It’s due tomorrow.” 

“Leave that homework. It doesn’t matter. I’ll fetch you to come here now. You have to be ready when I arrive.” Beomgyu stated with so much urgency in his voice.

“How about my homeworks?”

“I’ll do it for you.” 

Kai clicked his tongue. “You’re Choi Beomgyu.”

“Hello, what the hell is that supposed to even mean?” Beomgyu snickered. “I’ll ask Soobin-Hyung to help too but you _must_ come here.”

“It’s math and physics.” Kai deadpanned.

There were five seconds of silence that Kai thought the line was already cut off, but Beomgyu then said, “We’ll figure that out. You’re going and I’m coming to get you. Be ready.”

At half past eight, before the booths would be closed half an hour later, Kai got off Soobin’s car — he didn’t question why his cousin and his club president were together to begin with but he guessed he could leave it for another day — and rushed towards the photography booth at the corner of the schoolyard after the older kept urging him to for the whole ride.

“You _must_ visit the photography booth right away. I swear or you’ll be disappointed later after missing it out.”

Kai crooked one brow. “What’s with you anyway? Do they display my photographs?”

“Yes, of course, and more.” Beomgyu smiled mysteriously. “Now go.” He patted Kai’s shoulder before pushing him lightly towards the school gate.

Kai stopped for a moment before entering the booth with the white tent in front of him. A booth with a cork engraved PHOTOGRAPHY was emblazoned at the entrance. On the wall of the booth covered in white velvet, dozens of black and white photos were displayed, deliberately framed on carved wood on the edges. The photos came from students from various grade levels. From reliable photographers to amateurs, their photos remain on display. Likewise himself. 

Kai ventured to search for the photos he had taken. One of his photos was hung right in the middle of the booth wall, where the best photos were displayed. His smile had yet to fade when he saw another photo that was displayed right next to his. His eyes widened in surprise. His fingers traced the surface of the glass that covered it. He knew very well who owned the face in the portrait. A familiar face. The signature line was owned by everyone in his family. It was _him._ It was a portrait of him staring out the window. The lip line curved, forming a smile to the portrait. But, who took the picture?

He glanced quickly at the corner of the photo. The place where the photographer put their name. In an instant his heart was beating so fast as if it wanted to jump out of his chest if it could. Kai blinked multiple times to let everything sink in, still unable to believe what he had just seen.

“You’ve already taken my photograph before, right? Now, it’s my turn to take yours.”

Kai turned his face towards the source of the beautiful melodic voice. His eyes met the other’s big round ones. 

“You’re beautiful, Kai.”

Again, for the umpteenth time, the beating of his heart was getting faster because of one specific person looking at him with such a blinding smile. _Kang Taehyun._ And Kai was mesmerized.

_(_

_Taehyun knew the sun was blazing hot even though it was only the beginning of summer. But he still dared to run into the field with a DSLR camera in his left hand._

_“Are you ditching soccer for photography now?” Yeonjun said panting from the middle of the field, ignoring the ball that was now in the opponent’s hands._

_“I don't care about the game, Hyung. It’s only a friendly match anyway.” He was tired today._

_“What are you taking though? The view is not very good. Nothing special here.”_

_Taehyun only responded with a smile. Yeonjun was wrong. Not all the objects he saw were not good enough, he thought. He looked up, searching for something, or more specifically, someone, he had wanted to shoot for a long time._

_Taehyun smiled again as he managed to find the valuable object. “Cute,” he muttered._

_Yeonjun also looked up, curious about the object that Taehyun thought was cute. His right hand covered his narrowed eyes, blocking the striking sun this afternoon. His gaze wandered upwards, seeing students from regular class cheering for the game. “Do you know any freshman from regular class, Taehyun-ah?”_

_Still focused on the object of his photo, Taehyun replied, “I know one. Know before he knows me. Even long before he took photos of me at that time.”_

_“Oh,” A recognition showed within the older’s expression, “That tall foreigner student who just transferred some months ago?” Yeonjun was stunned by the younger’s statement. “No wonder,” he muttered._

_No wonder Taehyun was so excited during the last two matches. Because he knew, Kai was watching at the time. With a teasing smile he approached Taehyun and patted his shoulder. “You’ve fallen in love, dude!” Yeonjun said without hesitation._

_Taehyun grinned, staring at the shots he just took. He knew that. And for the first time, Yeonjun was not wrong in his judgment._

_)_

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading it, kudos are highly appreciated, and please let me know about what you think about this in the comment so I can write better next time❤️


End file.
